Susanne Brenner and Ward Plummer Named Boyd Professors, the Highest and Most Prestigious
Academic Rank at LSU

Nicholson Professor in the LSU Department of Mathematics Susanne Brenner

12/08/2017BATON ROUGE – On Friday, Dec. 8, the LSU Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to
award Boyd Professorships to Susanne Brenner, Nicholson Professor in the LSU Department of Mathematics, and Ward Plummer, LSU professor of physics. The designation of Boyd Professor is LSU’s highest and
most prestigious academic rank, and is only awarded to faculty who have achieved national
and international recognition for outstanding research, teaching or other creative
achievements.

“It is our great privilege to bestow LSU’s most elite faculty recognition, the title
of Boyd Professor, to Dr. Susanne Brenner and Dr. Ward Plummer,” said LSU President
F. King Alexander. “Drs. Brenner and Plummer are internationally recognized researchers
and educators in their fields, and we are honored to count them among LSU’s faculty.
Individuals like them are a major part of what makes LSU the exceptional place it
is for our students, faculty, staff and the citizens of Louisiana.”

Nominations for the Boyd Professorship are evaluated by the LSU Boyd Professor Review
Committee, which seeks confidential evaluations from distinguished scholars in the
candidate’s field of expertise. Once endorsed by the review committee, the nomination
is forwarded to the LSU president and Board of Supervisors for approval.

“The Boyd Professor designation honors the extraordinary accomplishments of our faculty
and their dedication to the mission of Louisiana State University,” said Rick Koubek,
Executive Vice President and Provost. “I am pleased to congratulate both Dr. Brenner
and Dr. Plummer for earning this most honorable distinction. As leaders in their respected
fields, their research and reputation epitomize our values as an institution.”

Brenner and Plummer are the 74th and 75th Boyd Professor named across LSU, and the
48th and 49th from the Flagship campus to be awarded the coveted title since it was
established in 1953 to honor brothers David and Thomas Boyd, early faculty members
and presidents of LSU. With these appointments, there are now 23 active Boyd Professors
across multiple campuses of LSU.

Both Brenner and Plummer received a number of letters of support from their dean,
colleagues across campus and colleagues across the academic and research community
for their nomination as Boyd Professors.

LSU Professor of Physics Ward Plummer

In her nomination letter for Brenner, LSU College of Science Dean Cynthia Peterson
wrote, “Dr. Brenner is an exemplary faculty member who enjoys an outstanding reputation
for her work on numerical solutions to partial differential equations ... Brenner
is a highly esteemed mathematician who is recognized internationally, reflecting well
on LSU and bringing highly favorable recognition to our campus.”

Brenner, who received her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan, holds
a joint appointment with the Department of Mathematics and Center for Computation
and Technology, or CCT. At CCT, she has served as the associate director for academic
affairs since 2008. In 2005, she was awarded a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander
von Humboldt Foundation. In 2011, she was awarded the AWM-SIAM Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture.
She is a SIAM Fellow (Class of 2010), AMS Fellow (Inaugural Class 2013) and AAAS Fellow
(2012). Brenner was selected as an LSU Rainmaker in 2009 and Distinguished Research
Master in 2013. She is also the 2017 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner from LSU.

In his letter of support for Brenner, Director of the LSU Center for Computation and
Technology J. “Ram” Ramanujam wrote, “Sue Brenner has been one of the highly influential,
innovative and productive educators and researchers on the faculty at LSU. She has
an outstanding record of teaching, research, mentoring and service to the profession
and community. Dr. Susanne Brenner richly deserves the rank of Boyd Professor at LSU.”

Brenner serves as managing editor of Mathematics of Computation. She also serves on
the editorial boards of the SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, Numerische Mathematik,
Numerical Algorithms, Electronic Transactions on Numerical Analysis and the Journal
of Numerical Mathematics. She serves on the Scientific Council of the Center International
de Mathematiques Pures et Appliquees and the AMS Council. In addition, she was a member
of the Electorate Nominating Committee for the American Association for the Advancement
of Science and the SIAM Fellows Selection Committee. She is a past SIAM vice president
for publications and served on the SIAM Council.

In her nomination letter for Plummer, Peterson wrote, “On the basis of his exceptional
career of first-rate world-class research, his outstanding preparation of our next-generation
scientists and his generous service contributions to the university and the profession,
I am proud to submit Dr. Plummer’s nomination as a Boyd Professor. I am proud to have
such a distinguished colleague who is universally held in high regard by leading scientists
around the world.”

Joining LSU’s faculty in 2009, as part of the Multidisciplinary Hiring Initiative
in Materials Science and Engineering, Plummer is a professor in the Department of
Physics & Astronomy, and a special assistant to the vice chancellor of research. He
received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis and Clark College in 1962 and completed
his Ph.D. degree in physics at Cornell University in 1967. He is a member of the National
Academy of Science and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
As an eminent physicist in materials research, he has developed advanced high-resolution
observation methods focused on investigating the phenomena associated with the unique
environment at a surface or interface. To date, he has published more than 400 scientific
articles and been quoted by other scholars over 17,000 times.

In his letter of support for Plummer, LSU Boyd Professor and Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite
Distinguished Professor Mark Batzer wrote, “Dr. Plummer is one of the highest profile
researchers at LSU as evidenced by his membership in a variety of scientific societies,
regular invitations to provide invited lectures throughout the world and multiple
organizational activities at national and international meetings. In fact, internationally
he is one of the most widely recognized researchers in the world.”

Earlier this year, Plummer was honored with the Award for International Scientific
Cooperation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, or CAS. He is the only physicist
from the United States to have ever received this award. He has served as the chief
scientific adviser for the International Center for Quantum Structures at the CAS
Institute of Physics since 2000. He also acted as foreign adviser at the High Magnetic
Field Laboratory under the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, as leader of the
international expert panel for evaluating the Institute of Physics’ 13th Five-Year
Plan (2016-2020), and as a member of the judging panel for many important awards.

For more information on the LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, visit www.lsu.edu/physics.